The big bike stripdown
Discussion
I now this guy well, he's done some work on my bike in the past - Barry's his name.
His 14 will be awesome when done, but bear in mind this is a nut and bolt restoration.
Davie.
His 14 will be awesome when done, but bear in mind this is a nut and bolt restoration.
Davie.
Mellow Matt said:
OK, now I'm scared 
I was just idly browsing another forum and came across a thread where the bloke's detailing the stripping of his GSX1400, so it caught my eye after Hooli's comment. He says he's got the same 2nd gear problem, "oh good", thinks I, "this'll show me what I need to do". Well too bloody right it does, have a look at this: http://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1737...
I hope all of that isn't necessary?! I'm hoping he was doing extra bits in addition to the bits necessary to get to the dogs...
I was just idly browsing another forum and came across a thread where the bloke's detailing the stripping of his GSX1400, so it caught my eye after Hooli's comment. He says he's got the same 2nd gear problem, "oh good", thinks I, "this'll show me what I need to do". Well too bloody right it does, have a look at this: http://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1737...I hope all of that isn't necessary?! I'm hoping he was doing extra bits in addition to the bits necessary to get to the dogs...
Edited by Davie_GLA on Thursday 11th June 10:02
Mellow Matt said:
OK, now I'm scared I was just idly browsing another forum and came across a thread where the bloke's detailing the stripping of his GSX1400, so it caught my eye after Hooli's comment. He says he's got the same 2nd gear problem, "oh good", thinks I, "this'll show me what I need to do". Well too bloody right it does, have a look at this: http://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1737...
I hope all of that isn't necessary?! I'm hoping he was doing extra bits in addition to the bits necessary to get to the dogs...
I wouldn't get too stressed out about it. Just methodically dismantle and if you make up a cardboard template of the layout of the crankcase bolts you can poke the bolts through the cardboard in relation to the position on the case. I was just idly browsing another forum and came across a thread where the bloke's detailing the stripping of his GSX1400, so it caught my eye after Hooli's comment. He says he's got the same 2nd gear problem, "oh good", thinks I, "this'll show me what I need to do". Well too bloody right it does, have a look at this: http://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1737...I hope all of that isn't necessary?! I'm hoping he was doing extra bits in addition to the bits necessary to get to the dogs...
I did a complete gearbox rebuild on my Fireblade and unless the Gixxer cases are split differently, I never touched the block. You should just be able to flip the engine upsidedown and take the bottom case off and work from there. Still have to strip off the clutch obviously! While you have it apart replace ANYTHING that shows any sign of wear, selector forks, end shims etc. You don't want to be doing the same job again in the future all because you tried to save a couple of quid. Pays you to invest in a digital caliper, about £25-£40 for a decentish one. Then you can check the tolerances on things like end float shims etc. Oh and a magnifying glass would be good too. I found it easier to check the orientation of the bevel on the edge of the snap rings and thrust washers.
Admittedly I had previous experience but that was in my racing days with TZ350 two strokes and I was only a 21 year old nipper then with no experience at all prior to doing a complete engine and gearbox rebuild in my bedroom.............without a manual. Haynes don't cover TZ350's!
k it up.Up the bum?
Are you in Essex this weekend? I heard rumours of a Street Triple exhaust party at Chappers' on Saturday… he's just had a ride in an Exige S but doesn't want one because "it's not much faster that my RS". I've convinced someone else to buy an MX5 too, I think I deserve a PH badge.
Are you in Essex this weekend? I heard rumours of a Street Triple exhaust party at Chappers' on Saturday… he's just had a ride in an Exige S but doesn't want one because "it's not much faster that my RS". I've convinced someone else to buy an MX5 too, I think I deserve a PH badge.
TimmyWimmyWoo said:
Up the bum?
Are you in Essex this weekend? I heard rumours of a Street Triple exhaust party at Chappers' on Saturday… he's just had a ride in an Exige S but doesn't want one because "it's not much faster that my RS". I've convinced someone else to buy an MX5 too, I think I deserve a PH badge.
That costs extra.Are you in Essex this weekend? I heard rumours of a Street Triple exhaust party at Chappers' on Saturday… he's just had a ride in an Exige S but doesn't want one because "it's not much faster that my RS". I've convinced someone else to buy an MX5 too, I think I deserve a PH badge.
I am indeed around, I'm riding back tomorrow morning, so I'm sure some time can be made for an exhaust party! Think it might rain on Saturday though which is a bit poo
Chappers just text me too, I offered him my locoblade for £8.5k, but he's not biting.
Davie_GLA said:
I now this guy well, he's done some work on my bike in the past - Barry's his name.
His 14 will be awesome when done, but bear in mind this is a nut and bolt restoration.
Davie.
i only know him on the 14 forum (not that forum) and as said above hes doing a lot more than required to fix 2nd gear.His 14 will be awesome when done, but bear in mind this is a nut and bolt restoration.
Davie.
Mellow Matt said:
OK, now I'm scared I was just idly browsing another forum and came across a thread where the bloke's detailing the stripping of his GSX1400, so it caught my eye after Hooli's comment. He says he's got the same 2nd gear problem, "oh good", thinks I, "this'll show me what I need to do". Well too bloody right it does, have a look at this: http://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1737...
I hope all of that isn't necessary?! I'm hoping he was doing extra bits in addition to the bits necessary to get to the dogs...
I was just idly browsing another forum and came across a thread where the bloke's detailing the stripping of his GSX1400, so it caught my eye after Hooli's comment. He says he's got the same 2nd gear problem, "oh good", thinks I, "this'll show me what I need to do". Well too bloody right it does, have a look at this: http://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1737...I hope all of that isn't necessary?! I'm hoping he was doing extra bits in addition to the bits necessary to get to the dogs...
Edited by Davie_GLA on Thursday 11th June 10:02
Managed to get a bit more work done over the weekend. First thing to do was to get the engine out, which meant undoing the mounting bolts here on the inside of the bike at the back:
and here on the outside of the bike on both sides at the front:
We had a jack under the sump to hold the weight and managed to lower it down a bit after undoing the bolts:
The jack was a bit too high though so we had to shuffle it onto some blocks of wood:
Then we rigged up a little roller system to roll the engine out:
So far so good, no major hassles aside from it being pretty awkward getting it out of the frame when it's only balanced on the sump. This left me with an engineless bike, which I think looks a bit SV650-ish!
So then we put the engine on its side and undid the cluch cover:
This is what it looks like without a clutch in:
Remember to hold it all together if you take one out, cos all the plates are loose and can all fall apart!
Then we flipped the engine again and took the sump off, another easy bit really, just undoing nuts. So this is the engine from the bottom without the sump on:
The funnel bit is where the oil is sucked up from the sump I think, it's got a little filter in it too.
We called it a day at this point, as we'd started late on Friday morning and we were hungry
We intended to get started again on Saturday morning, but our day got hijacked by Tim (TimmyWimmyWoo) coming over so we could help put his new exhaust on his Street Triple. "Easy job" we thought, "will only take a couple of hours". Rubbish. It took 5. Stupid underseat exhausts and oversimplified instructions... *grumble* Sounded good (and loud!) afterwards though . I'm sure my neighbours were pleased with there being a collection of 2 of my bikes, my dad's bike, Tim's bike, a mate's loud Focus RS (ChappeRS) and then Tim's dad's bike on my (shared) driveway...!
So got to work again this morning, planning to take the lower crankcase off the middle crankcase. So we had to identify which bolts held the two bits together and undo them. Didn't get any photos of this, as it looks the same as all the other engine shots, but minus a few bolts! Then we had to take the water pump off and various other hoses which crossed the join between the lower and middle crankcase (cue even more oil and antifreeze pissing out! How much is there?!). Then the two parts should have separated... But they didn't, so we figured the sealant gaskety glue stuff was holding it together, so cue lots of hitting solid looking bits of the lower crankcase with mallets and bits of wood. This wasn't working, and was pretty frustrating! Then after 15 minutes of head scratching, we realised that if we turned the engine the right way up again it revealed a few more bolts that were undone from the top side...
We did then have to hit it a bit more with some wood though, so we felt a bit less stupid 
We put all the bolts into little cardboard templates so we didn't lose them and could tell where they all go, sorry for the crappy pic, I had oily hands and was holding onto the camera with the tips of my fingers and not really concentrating!:
So, after undoing all the bolts we split the cases to reveal this (the bottom of the middle crankcase):
So in this pic through the gaps at the bottom are the big ends of the con rods and you can just about see the bottoms of the pistons (although probably not in the pic), and the bit in the top half is where the transmission shafts sit.
This pic shows the top of the lower crankcase, with the shafts and the gears sitting in it (so this all flips over and fits on top of the previous picture):
Close up of the gears:
In this pic the shaft at the top right, sticking out, is where the front sprocket for the chain goes, and the shaft at the bottom sticking out on the left is where the clutch is mounted. The gears at the top right are the ones with the worn out dogs and so the ones that need replacing. You can't actually see the bits that are worn out from this angle, as they're the bits that are on the sides of the gears which link them to the gear next to them. We got to this point and though it was a bit too scary to take all the gears off, as we weren't confident we'd get them all back on right! So we're going to take the lower crankcase with all the gears to a bike shop to get them to replace the relevant bits, as we'd have to get them to order us the bits anyway.
So hopefully in short while we can start putting it back together again...!
and here on the outside of the bike on both sides at the front:
We had a jack under the sump to hold the weight and managed to lower it down a bit after undoing the bolts:
The jack was a bit too high though so we had to shuffle it onto some blocks of wood:
Then we rigged up a little roller system to roll the engine out:
So far so good, no major hassles aside from it being pretty awkward getting it out of the frame when it's only balanced on the sump. This left me with an engineless bike, which I think looks a bit SV650-ish!
So then we put the engine on its side and undid the cluch cover:
This is what it looks like without a clutch in:
Remember to hold it all together if you take one out, cos all the plates are loose and can all fall apart!
Then we flipped the engine again and took the sump off, another easy bit really, just undoing nuts. So this is the engine from the bottom without the sump on:
The funnel bit is where the oil is sucked up from the sump I think, it's got a little filter in it too.
We called it a day at this point, as we'd started late on Friday morning and we were hungry
We intended to get started again on Saturday morning, but our day got hijacked by Tim (TimmyWimmyWoo) coming over so we could help put his new exhaust on his Street Triple. "Easy job" we thought, "will only take a couple of hours". Rubbish. It took 5. Stupid underseat exhausts and oversimplified instructions... *grumble* Sounded good (and loud!) afterwards though . I'm sure my neighbours were pleased with there being a collection of 2 of my bikes, my dad's bike, Tim's bike, a mate's loud Focus RS (ChappeRS) and then Tim's dad's bike on my (shared) driveway...!So got to work again this morning, planning to take the lower crankcase off the middle crankcase. So we had to identify which bolts held the two bits together and undo them. Didn't get any photos of this, as it looks the same as all the other engine shots, but minus a few bolts! Then we had to take the water pump off and various other hoses which crossed the join between the lower and middle crankcase (cue even more oil and antifreeze pissing out! How much is there?!). Then the two parts should have separated... But they didn't, so we figured the sealant gaskety glue stuff was holding it together, so cue lots of hitting solid looking bits of the lower crankcase with mallets and bits of wood. This wasn't working, and was pretty frustrating! Then after 15 minutes of head scratching, we realised that if we turned the engine the right way up again it revealed a few more bolts that were undone from the top side...
We did then have to hit it a bit more with some wood though, so we felt a bit less stupid We put all the bolts into little cardboard templates so we didn't lose them and could tell where they all go, sorry for the crappy pic, I had oily hands and was holding onto the camera with the tips of my fingers and not really concentrating!:
So, after undoing all the bolts we split the cases to reveal this (the bottom of the middle crankcase):
So in this pic through the gaps at the bottom are the big ends of the con rods and you can just about see the bottoms of the pistons (although probably not in the pic), and the bit in the top half is where the transmission shafts sit.
This pic shows the top of the lower crankcase, with the shafts and the gears sitting in it (so this all flips over and fits on top of the previous picture):
Close up of the gears:
In this pic the shaft at the top right, sticking out, is where the front sprocket for the chain goes, and the shaft at the bottom sticking out on the left is where the clutch is mounted. The gears at the top right are the ones with the worn out dogs and so the ones that need replacing. You can't actually see the bits that are worn out from this angle, as they're the bits that are on the sides of the gears which link them to the gear next to them. We got to this point and though it was a bit too scary to take all the gears off, as we weren't confident we'd get them all back on right! So we're going to take the lower crankcase with all the gears to a bike shop to get them to replace the relevant bits, as we'd have to get them to order us the bits anyway.
So hopefully in short while we can start putting it back together again...!
Edited by Mellow Matt on Sunday 14th June 23:03
Edited by Mellow Matt on Sunday 14th June 23:05
Heheh yes I did think about doing that! I looked into it, but I figured I could end up paying £100 or more on an engine, install it, and then find out it's a duff, so decided against it. I was also a bit worried about engine numbers and things like that.
The advantage of fixing it myself means I learn a bit and can be sure of the condition of the engine. Also, for this particular job it seems that it was more of a job getting the engine out than it was to split the crank to get to the gears. If I'd had a problem with the cylinders or something, maybe a new engine would've been the best decision! Especially as I've heard the 750 SRAD engine fits in the 600 frame...!
What was wrong with yours? Did you flog off the old engine for spares?
The advantage of fixing it myself means I learn a bit and can be sure of the condition of the engine. Also, for this particular job it seems that it was more of a job getting the engine out than it was to split the crank to get to the gears. If I'd had a problem with the cylinders or something, maybe a new engine would've been the best decision! Especially as I've heard the 750 SRAD engine fits in the 600 frame...!
What was wrong with yours? Did you flog off the old engine for spares?
Mellow Matt said:
Heheh yes I did think about doing that! I looked into it, but I figured I could end up paying £100 or more on an engine, install it, and then find out it's a duff, so decided against it. I was also a bit worried about engine numbers and things like that.
The advantage of fixing it myself means I learn a bit and can be sure of the condition of the engine. Also, for this particular job it seems that it was more of a job getting the engine out than it was to split the crank to get to the gears. If I'd had a problem with the cylinders or something, maybe a new engine would've been the best decision! Especially as I've heard the 750 SRAD engine fits in the 600 frame...!
What was wrong with yours? Did you flog off the old engine for spares?
Nice one, yeah that does make sense and I admire you for having a go!The advantage of fixing it myself means I learn a bit and can be sure of the condition of the engine. Also, for this particular job it seems that it was more of a job getting the engine out than it was to split the crank to get to the gears. If I'd had a problem with the cylinders or something, maybe a new engine would've been the best decision! Especially as I've heard the 750 SRAD engine fits in the 600 frame...!
What was wrong with yours? Did you flog off the old engine for spares?
Mine was a gearbox problem too, but the engine was tired so it was a no brainer really and being a ancient CBR600 the engine only cost £200 from DK in Stroke.
I put the old engine into the metal skip at the local refuse site
Good work and good luck to you, keep us informed cos I'm watching this thread with interest
TimmyWimmyWoo said:
Awesome write-up! Keep it up. You must be exceptionally patient/brave, I would've gone with the 'new bike' option, let alone 'new engine' or 'new gears' 
Your neighbour seemed quite understanding about the amount of machinery on your drive
Well my bravery's already been proven from that time I saved all those baby ducklings in that burning orphanage from those enraged muntant bears, but ta anyway. As far as patience goes, I've found it pretty fun so far, my patience is yet to be tested, but I'm sure putting it back together won't be as interesting... Your neighbour seemed quite understanding about the amount of machinery on your drive ETA: "baby ducklings", I apologise for the tortology.
Edited by Mellow Matt on Monday 15th June 22:39
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